Explanation: Spectacular first images
from the newly christened
Spitzer Space Telescope
include this penetrating interior view of an otherwise
opaque dark globule known as the
Elephant's Trunk Nebula.
Seen in a composite of infrared image data
recorded by
Spitzer's instruments, the intriguing region is
embedded within
the glowing emission nebula IC 1396 at a distance of 2,450
light-years toward the constellation Cepheus.
Previously undiscovered protostars
hidden by dust at optical wavelengths
appear as bright reddish objects within the
globule.
Shown in false-color,
winding filaments of infrared emission
span about 12 light-years and are due to dust,
molecular hydrogen gas, and complex molecules called
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
or PAHs.
The
Spitzer Space Telescope was
formerly known as the Space
Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) and
is designed to explore
the Universe at infrared
wavelengths.
Spitzer follows the Hubble Space Telescope,
the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory
as the final element in NASA's space-borne
Great Observatories Program.